Stalker in my walls
by BadKristy13
Summary: Who's to say billionaire's mansions are Borrower-free? Ironman movies only, maybe Avengers if there's a sequel.
1. Prologue

**First Ironman/Borrowers crossover! This takes place in 2004 and it´s just a little introduction ;). My assumed ages of Tony Stark are: 31 in Ironman, 33 in Ironman 2, and 35 in the Avenger movie. **

Prologue

I never understood why Borrowers wanted to know next to nothing about Beans. I found them interesting and really creative. Other Borrowers would try to stay away from Beans as far away as possible, but I tried to be as close as I could without being "seen". It was just the thrill that came with it that made me do it. Maybe I should start from the beginning.

My name is Maximus Runner. Most Borrowers would have as a last name the place they lived, but my mom was never a settler. She and I used to go from place to place; living behind walls, floors, ceilings, you name it. We learned to adapt to every new location and tried not to get attached to things. We traveled all around the U.S., from Chicago to Seattle to Arizona… My mom used to say: "If we´re going to stay in just one place we might as well never had lived at all". Maybe that´s what got her killed.

I was only 8 when she died. We had been living in a trailer in Texas, borrowing from a male Bean who spent most of his time out doing who knows what. She told me to wait where we were currently living (underneath the trailer) while she went to restock on our food. She never came back.

After waiting for some days, I knew she wasn´t going to come back. I couldn´t stand staying near there, so I headed north. After a year of bouncing from state to state, I heard through the walls of the living room I was, news about some billionaire who was this big inventor and a genius and who owned a big company. What caught my attention was the fact that he was making breakthroughs in technology. I had always loved to be near wires and making things work with just a little spark, the satisfaction of making something useful on your own! In an impulsive move, I decided to check him out. So I hitched a ride to California as soon as possible and headed to the Stark mansion.

It took me a few days but I was finally there. The place was spectacular _outside _the gates. I had to be really careful when entering because of all the security of the place. I sneaked in at night, underground. After passing the gate I had to cross all the lawn and enter through the garage. I had to bite my lip from gasping. This guy was _loaded. _I passed by Ferraris, BMWs, and so many more it would take me way too long to finish. After dodging tires, I quickly dislodged an outlet. I had to climb wires until I finally found a vent. I decided to spend the night there so I took off my backpack (coin purse) and used it as a pillow.

The next day my back was stiff from sleeping in cold stainless steel. After stretching I started exploring. Through the vent openings I began mapping the mansion, which was kinda difficult with all the rooms it had within. Everything looked out of a Bean´s magazine, you know the ones with really modern and totally uncomfortable useless things. I passed by rooms that had statues and paintings, unused bedrooms, bathrooms in which the sinks could be _my _own mansion, and so on. Finally, after going down near the garage I discovered a room that looked like a lab. From my position in the vent near the ceiling, I could see stainless steel tables that had all kind of things on them, from wires and papers to food that could grow life on its own. There were also machines dismantled to simple metal, tools that were so simple like screwdrivers and so complicated that could kill me. All put together, you could build anything you could ever imagine. I think I found my own personal heaven.

While I was admiring and aching to reach down there and touch or build something, I heard loud footsteps coming from the other side of the glass door. While I made sure that I wouldn´t be seen in my position, a male Bean entered the lab. He had messy jet black hair, a goatee (I have no idea how it´s actually called), and a t-shirt of one of my favorite bands AC-DC, plus some jeans and snickers. He looked to be around 29 and in good form. I realized he must be Tony Stark, the billionaire, philanthropist, genius and many other things.

"Jarvis, put on some music and show me last night´s work."

Just when I thought he was talking through some type of phone, music started to sound LOUDLY out of nowhere. I had to cover my ears from the deafening sound and searched for my earplugs in my bag. I found the cotton balls and stuffed them in my ears. Ahhh, better.

Now that I wasn´t at risk of becoming completely deaf, I recognized the song from Santana. I looked over to the Bean and watched him as he started working in something that was some kind of weapon. I had never been interested in weapons, only focusing on things like cars and mp3s. While I didn´t understand most of what he was doing, I did recognize that the man was _good_. His hands moved like they had a mind of their own while he was keeping the beat of the song. I stayed there for hours just watching him work and build and invent and doing so much things, I just wanted to do at the moment. It was at that moment that I decided to stay and live in the Stark mansion.


	2. Living with an insomniac

**Time skip to the first Ironman movie. Not much interaction in here, but things will start getting along soon ;)**

I woke up to the sound of yet another explosion. Everything was dark in my room, well at least darker, so it must be around 2 o'clock in the morning. I checked my digital clock and it blinked 3:15 a.m. Huh, got more sleep this time.

Ever since that day when I decided to stay in the Stark mansion, I've never had a full night's sleep. So I slept in the afternoons or when Tony was passed out, either from being drunk or exhausted. After observing him for a few days, I realized that Tony Stark was the kind of guy who would start a project at 1 a.m. and never stop until he finished it, not even to eat or sleep. In fact, I think he would never sleep if it weren't for his P.A., Pepper Potts. She had to drag him out of his lab when he spent way too much time in there and put him to sleep. She also checked that he ate at least once a day and to have some personal hygiene (Eww). Pepper Potts was Tony Stark's life support in every detail of his life, including apparently surviving. I actually admired her for having to stand all of her boss' tantrums and eccentricities.

I got out of my bed, which was a Tiffany´s old necklace box, and extended my patched up sheets. After, I changed into my borrowing clothes which consisted of denim self-made jeans held by a wire belt, a doll's hoodie and some snickers from the same doll. Apparently Beans in California had some really accessible and comfortable doll's clothes.

I entered my kitchen which was connected to the living room. In the middle of the room was a coin on top of a screw that was used as a table, surrounding it were cupboards made of matchboxes, a sink and a stove. I had tapped into the water pipes and made a pipe system that worked for me so I could have sinks and showers. For the stove, I basically rigged a lighter so it could stay on and bent some wires on top of it so that I could put pans and pots on top of it. For breakfast, I ate tidbits of Pop tarts and bagels. In the living room was my borrower equipment. The walls had stickers of all kinds that had caught my attention while borrowing. My sofa was made of cushions out of jewelry boxes and my coffee table was made of corks put together by wires that went through them. I grabbed my cord, gear, pin, wires (I had A LOT of wires), and backpack. I decided to check what Tony was doing.

I got out of where I lived, which were the vents on the kitchen ceiling, and started to walk towards the lab. In my first few weeks here, I noted that the safest way to move around the house was through the vents. The mansion had a freaking AI that could control all of the rooms and appliance and could record everything that happened within. There were cameras and wires that ran through every single wall in the house, including the lawn, which allowed Jarvis (the AI) to check if there was anything out of the ordinary. Paranoid much? I had memorized and even marked the vents as roads so I could borrow easily. The downside to the vent road was that I had to pad the vent's floor and walls so my footsteps and my voice wouldn't echo around the house.

Finally, I came to the lab. From my vantage position near the ceiling, I could watch Tony work in some new kind of weapon. I never got tired from watching him. Sure the guy was an asshole, but he was a talented asshole. Thanks to watching him work and having read many of his notes, I learned much about hacking and rigging devices. I tried to make little things, like repairing what Beans threw away and automatizing other things. I started getting interested in nano technology, since for me it was normal sized. I eventually went to the kitchen to see what I could borrow since Tony wouldn't be coming out of his lab anytime soon and Mrs. Potts wasn't coming until later in the morning.

Since Jarvis could watch ALL of the house, I began looking for blind spots or ways to pass without being seen. I registered all of the "safe areas" and knew how to enter the cupboards and the fridge without being caught. From the cupboards I grabbed a few bean coffees and some sweets. After grabbing what I needed, I went home to put my borrowings in the stock room and headed through the vents to the living room. In the living room was a great glass wall that faced the sea. After that, there was a sort of platform and then the edge of the cliff. I loved that spot, since I could use edge of the cliff as room to hear music and relax. With the sun still down, I put on music on my iPod nano and watched the waves and their crashing to the rocks…

I must have fallen asleep because I was startled awake to the sound of a car entering the front driveway. Damn it, I must have been sleeping way too long for that was Mrs. Potts' car. I scrambled to gather all my stuff and sneaked through an outlet that was on the outside wall of the mansion. I climb the wires and went to the vents. Just when I reached the one that was in the living room, I heard voices. Female Bean voices. They seemed to be arguing, so I sneaked a peek through the vents and saw Mrs. Potts arguing with a younger blonde Bean. The blonde one must be another of those one night stands Tony seemed to have often. Mrs. Potts sassed her out and the blonde one left. I chuckled quietly and watched as Mrs. Potts went to retrieve Tony for yet another business meeting. Good, that meant he wasn't coming for a while. At that moment, I didn't knew it would be a long while.


	3. The Hardest is the Waiting

**Before anything, this is not a shipping with my OC. They're relationship is going to be friends/family, so it would be kind of weird. I haven't watched the Ironman movies in some time, so I'm not going to type the dialogues and scenes EXACTLY the same. Also, because that would be boring to write and read. On we go!**

Four weeks. That's how long it took for Tony Stark to come back home. Four excruciating weeks.

That morning when Tony left, everything seemed like the usual. The mansion was empty, well except for me but I never count. I decided to explore new things for borrowing. After getting what I needed that wouldn't be noticed, I then went to the edge of the cliff and explored more of Malibu.

I was organizing my stockroom, again, when I heard Mrs. Potts coming in. I thought she had come to retrieve something, but she sounded like she was very anxious. I went through the vents to see what had her in such a worry. Some of her words traveled through the vents.

"Missing.. I don't know, he was heading to some Weapons Expo…" I started running.

When I reached the vent that faced the living room, I could see her pacing with her cellphone in her hand. She looked the most preoccupied I've ever seen her.

"He needs you more than me, James. Please, just go and look for him." She hung up. That must have been James Rhodes or Rhodey, a friend of Tony's.

Mrs. Potts then began making other calls and telling Jarvis to contact other people. After hearing a couple of calls, I had gathered enough information to know that Tony had been kidnapped in the middle of a desert in Afghanistan.

Damn it, how did he manage to get in this kind of situations? He could be dead or hurt for all that I know. But he was going to come back, he had to. He was going to walk that door and act as he had just went to Las Vegas.

But even as days turned into weeks, and Tony still didn't show up, I kept on hoping. Mrs. Potts began to stay in the Stark mansion to check on any updates on the search. She sometimes fell asleep on the couch out of pure exhaustion. I helped as I could in the little things. I would sometimes leave her some food, so she could at least eat every once in a while. I also had an extension of the database in my makeshift home so I could check on what information came from Rhodey or any nearby locations in the area where he went missing. But for weeks, there was nothing.

Just when I was making my mind to hop on any direct flights to Afghanistan, Rhodey called with news that they had found him. Mrs. Potts didn't know whether to laugh or cry out of happiness, of course she only showed this when she thought she was alone. She immediately headed for the airport in which he would be brought from Afghanistan. I wished I could come too, but it was too big the risk of being "seen".

Rhodey also said that he was found with some type of robotic armor that was broken to pieces. Only Tony could pull that off.

I was waiting anxiously for Tony to come back, I would only believe it myself until I saw him. Deep down, I knew I cared for him more than what was normal in a Borrower. Most Borrowers didn't care what happened to the Beans living in the house, unless, of course, if it meant moving or changing something that would affect them directly.

But this was different. After years of staying in here, I felt some kind of understanding with him, even if he didn't know that I existed. Watching him work, seeing him have such a passion towards engineering, the type of music he liked… That was what made me stay after all this time. I don't want to sound like an obsessive stalker, but he made me want to improve myself in my own work, be more like him.

I waited impatiently for him to come back. Finally, after hours of waiting, he walked through that door. Tony seemed… different, and it wasn't the fact that he was skinnier and paler than before. When Mrs. Potts started asking him all type of questions about his wellbeing, he responded with his usual snarky comments, but they seemed forced. He quickly hushed her out of the mansion and headed towards the bar. He then began drinking out of his strongest reserves. While this wasn't all too shocking, I was getting more concerned by the minute. Tony only drank this much when he wanted to forget, usually in the anniversary of the death of his parents.

He was constantly touching his chest, like if he wasn't comfortable. Then, when he took off his shirt, I gasped. There was some kind of light emanating out of his chest. It was circular and with bits of metal surrounding it. It seemed unnatural, like something out of a Bean's scifi movie. What exactly had happened in Afghanistan?


	4. Red and Gold

After Tony came back home, he started a new project. This project was a bit different from the rest. Even as I watched, I couldn't understand what he was trying to do. He seemed to be piecing together some kind of armor that was also a weapon.

The armor also had an emanating light in the chest. After getting out of the shock of seeing Tony with a flashlight in his chest, I began to get curious of what exactly it was. After seeing some of his notes about it, I learned that it was an Arc Reactor and that it kept his heart from being pierced by shrapnel. I became more accepting of the light.

As I watched him build, I noticed that he seemed to have a different initiative for this new project. It wasn't out of boredom or because it would sell well in the market. No, he seemed to be making it personalized. I was also watching how much the kidnapping had changed him.

Trying to read Tony was really hard. Luckily, I had years of practice.

He tried to cover it, but I could tell that he was in some sort of grieving. But it seemed that this same grieving was motivating him, making him do this for someone else. Even if it was weird seeing him like this, it was strangely better.

After a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of trial and error, he had finally finished. It looked weird on him, like when someone's suddenly wearing glasses, but at the same time it looked fitting. It was all stainless steel grey and covered all of his body. The face had slits for eyes, but after that nothing. It also looked like it was missing something.

Finally, when Tony fell asleep, I was able to explore his work. I had taken this as a habit for when Tony built something that wasn't a weapon or just really interesting. I swiftly climbed out of the vent and tied a cord so I could climb down towards the workroom. I could move freely in the workroom, since I had rigged Jarvis into letting me in the workplace. I was only able to do it after 2 years of living in the mansion, and even then it only covered the workroom.

After reaching the floor and securing my cord for a quick getaway, I approached the armor. I was a bit weary of it since it was the size of a full grown Bean. It stood tall near the wall. Tony was asleep with his head resting in the worktable. I steered away from his gigantic feet in case he moved or woke up.

When I reached the armor, I could see marks clearly in all of it so I used them to climb to the top of the head. Once I was up there, I could see the workroom from a different view. After gazing through the room for a while, I realized that I was seeing everything from a Bean perspective. It was different from watching from a vent, mostly because I was _in _the room. I felt like a giant, what with the floor far away. It also was weird being in the room with a Bean without having to look around for something that could smash you. I wanted to stay up here forever but I knew I couldn't, so I made my way to the floor.

On my way down, my backpack unzipped and something must have broken, because some parts of the armor were suddenly stained with gold and red paint. Damn it, I must have forgotten the bags of paint I had borrowed before. Just when I was starting to scrub the stains, Tony began stirring.

I started to panic. If I left the stains in the suit, he would know someone or _something_ was in the lab and investigate, and then he would check the tapes and discover something was wrong with Jarvis… I had to take a few calming breaths. Tony was slowly waking up and I had to act fast. I climbed down as fast as I could, and then ran towards the cord hanging near the vent. I had just climbed up the vent, when Tony was fully awake. I froze and was half expecting him to find the string that was hanging from the vent. But luck was on my side and Tony turned his back towards me so I quickly pulled the cord away.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

Forget what I said, luck was _clearly_ not in my side.

I hid myself as much as I could while still having a view of the workplace. I could see Tony circling the suit and regarding it. Just when I was thinking that he would search the lab, he stopped in front of it. Oh God, he would notice one of my footprints in the paint, or maybe I had forgotten a piece of string or something I had borrowed before, or maybe even…

"Huh, it doesn't look that bad. It actually has some style on it."

I passed out in that moment.


	5. The Arc Reactor

**I just saw Ironman again and looking back to the last chapter, I now know that he built the Ironman suit later on the movie. Oops. I'm not going to rewrite the last chapter since I liked how it went so it's going to be AU, but from now on the timeline is right again! **

After being back to the conscious world, I was shocked with the sight of a new suit that had the colors I accidentally smeared in the first one. It also looked thinner and better than the last one.

Inside, I felt a sort of giddiness I hadn't felt in years, maybe even my whole life. There in front of me was something I had influenced, something I had touched. Sure, it was only the coloring, but it was something. I had always daydreamed of making something that would be known to someone other than me or the odd Borrower but this… This was progress.

I hacked into Jarvis long enough to set my favorite tracks, but also short enough to not be noticed. After checking that Tony was out of the mansion and that there was no one inside, I used the workplace for whatever the heck I wanted.

Soon, I was dancing to the beat of some Imagine Dragons track and eating some kind of cake I had borrowed before. I felt like I was on top of the world.

I was in the middle of singing at the top of my lungs the lyrics of 'Emma', when I heard someone coming. I quickly told Jarvis to stop the music (Hehe I also rigged him to obey me, at least in the workroom) and climbed up the vent when Tony entered.

He then sat on a chair that was connected to some screens and took off his shirt. His arc-reactor was still there like the last time he took his shirt. I was a bit more used to it, but it still amazed me when I saw it again. He plugged himself to some machines and was checking his screens. From what little I understood from his notes, they showed that it was malfunctioning. He started tweaking his Arc Reactor and must have realized that he wouldn't be able to fix it on his own because he called Mrs. Potts down to the lab.

The moment she came downstairs, he proceeded to instruct her on how to repair his Reactor step by step. While I followed what he was saying most of the time, Mrs. Potts seemed very nervous about touching her boss' chest (and no, not in THAT way). All she had to do was replace the Reactor but her hands were trembling so bad that even I felt her reluctance.

Finally she took out the wire (with some difficulty and taking in count the gross factor of the substance that was in there) and placed in the new Reactor. Her hands seemed to be covered by the Reactor substance, which looked a lot like slug.

"Never ask me to do that again."

"You're the only one around to do it." Well except for me but like I said before, I never count.

She wanted him to keep his past reactor but Tony wanted it thrown to the trash or incinerated. She walked away with it and I followed her. On her way out, she left the Reactor on the desk and asked Jarvis to keep it safe. She left the mansion and after I made sure that she was really gone, I went to the desk and took it with me.

Once I was safely in the vents that were my room, I began to take it apart. After it was dismantled, I studied its parts one by one. I could tell that it worked because of an electromagnetic field that kept regenerating itself. It seemed to cover only a certain area, approximately 6 to 8 square inches. The energy in which it ran was very similar to a project Stark Industries had made a few years ago to appease the press and some activists that started accusing the company of contaminating.

I couldn't understand why he threw it away. I mean, apart from a few fixes here and there, it was in good condition. Because of my better eyesight in comparison to humans, I could tell it was handmade. It intrigued me so much, I took it to myself to fix it and make it work.

After I went borrowing for more pieces of metal and wires, I started reassembling it using the notes that Tony had uploaded to Jarvis' database. It was easier for me to build it again since I could piece it without the need of using any kind of magnifying lenses. Tiny wires and pieces were polished and manipulated so they were reformed. Scraps of new metal began replacing the parts that were obviously going to fall out or rust, and new wires were put in place. I had to study, learn and memorize the structure of the Reactor like the back of my hand in order to rebuild it and replicate it almost to perfection.

Finally, after days without sleeping and living out of a not-so-healthy diet of Coke and what was left in my reserve, I finished it. I walked around it, surveying the Arc Reactor in all its glory and it looked magnificent. I was really pleased by how it looked. I quickly discovered that it ran with the same energy that made out the electromagnetic field, and that it would never run out of it since it was constantly renovating itself. It lit my whole room and seemed prettier every time I looked at it. After making sure it wouldn't break to pieces, I fell asleep feeling better than ever before.

**I don't know much about physics and engineering so it's not all that accurate. **


	6. Flying and Crashing

When I woke up, I heard music coming from the music. Someone was playing the piano, I groaned. It must be Obadiah, only he plays the piano.

Obadiah Stane used to be Stark Industries' CEO. But when Tony turned 21, he was pushed down from his high and mighty position so Tony could take the leadership. He always gave this "I'm a creep" kind of vibe, the one that I usually felt near weasels and ferrets. From all the people that I was afraid that would ever see me, he was in the top.

Luckily, Mrs. Potts was there too (in the room, not the list; although she was there too), and soon Tony emerged from his cave to join them. Obadiah started telling Tony about how the company board wanted to throw him out because of PTS, the stocks lowering, etc.

I then remembered the press conference Tony gave mere _hours _from being found in the desert. He had told the world that he had changed and would no longer make weapons. Everyone, including me, was shocked. People had laughed at him and ridiculed him. Saying shit like "A weapons company no longer making weapons." In my case, I was proud of him; after all, I have never liked mass weapons before since it meant easier ways for Beans to kill each other. And if more Beans were killed, even more Borrowers were killed also.

Back to what was happening in the living room, Tony didn't seem happy at all. From what I later heard, Obadiah was saying that the board was giving him Tony's position in the company. Tony left to his lab, but not without grabbing some pizza. I was suspicious of Obadiah and made a mental note to check exactly how the board meeting decided to kick Tony out.

When I went down to the lab, I saw Tony working in the same suit. I was confused, hadn't he done one already? After going through Jarvis' database, I discovered that the suit he had made before was only a model, a non-working suit. He had made it so he would know how it would look with his measures. In other words, it was just for the looks. While I was kind of disappointed that my little ingress to the project was only in a useless suit, I tried to cheer myself into thinking that he would use the coloring for the real thing.

I was thrown out of my thoughts when I heard something that sounded way too much like a propulsion engine. I turned and watched in amazement as Tony began _flying around the lab_. Sure it wasn't in the normal sense of flying. It actually looked more like one of those jetpacks. But he wasn't touching the ground or anything to steady himself and that counted as flying to me.

After looking closely, I could tell that there seemed to be propellants in his hands and feet. He pointed his hand to the floor and the force of the four propellants made him sort of levitate from the floor.

I winced when he approached the cars and almost flamed them with his feet. Thankfully, he soon redirected his flight using his hands towards a more secure area.

"Oh yeah, I can fly." And he could.

He joined the propellers with the superficial suit and checked if everything was working. I could hear him talking to Jarvis about the suit's flying abilities. Jarvis warned him that he still needed to run a lot more calculations for the suit to work properly and I silently agreed. But of course Tony ignored the warning.

"Sometimes you've got to run to learn how to walk." Great, now he was starting to sound like a Nike commercial.

He began to float and then went straight to the ramp that led outside. From what I heard, he was going to try out the suit's flying skills. Show off.

I was in the middle of studying the suit's blueprints when I heard something crash in the lab. Oh, Tony was back.

And just as I suspected, there was Tony still in his suit. He had apparently tried to land in the roof, but the suit was obviously too heavy and went through the ceilings (yeah, plural) as if they were paper. I was a little concerned, but thankfully it hadn't gone through any of the vents. Oh, and Tony was okay too.

He had wrecked one of his cars (I tried not to flinch but failed miserably) and when I looked closely at him; I noticed that the suit had _ice _on it. I decided not to think where he had been that could make the suit freeze.

Dummy decided at that very moment to use the extinguisher on Tony. I laughed so much; I had to take a few minutes to recover my breath. Thankfully, the sound of the extinguisher muffled my laughter; which incidentally made me laugh even harder. I just love Dummy.


	7. Evading jerks and questions

**Shout out to the story's first follower of the story!**

I found out that the suit had frozen because Tony wanted to go to space. Of course.

Since Tony was out going to a party (which was hosted by him but he was uninvited and no one expected him to go, so naturally he went), I took this chance to investigate the "board meeting" that had kicked Tony out. Finally after breaking a dozen firewalls, I discovered that Obadiah had filed a petition asking for Tony to be removed of his position as CEO. That bastard. I decided to dig dipper and found out that there was some weaponry going missing every once in a while, but it was never noticed since it was well covered. Something in my gut told me it was probably Obadiah.

And it was. When Tony came back, he was pissed as hell. I think, _I think_ he found out about Obadiah also. I quickly went to the safe vents that were in the corner. When Tony was furious, he tended to wreck things in the most creative ways. I learned this the hard way.

Sure enough, I could hear shooting going on in the lab. Apparently, he had been watching the news and all the missing weaponry was suddenly in international TV, shown in the hands of, what I suspect, were the people that had kidnapped him. It was a group called "Ten Rings" or something like that. When I glanced to see what he was breaking now (in case it was a vent or a car *shuddering*), and was not-so-pleasantly surprised with the sight of Tony using his suit now as a weapon by firing beams from his hands and lasering everything in the lab. Mm, for a man that told the world he would no longer build weapons, he is certainly becoming a peace maker.

When all the trashing finally ended, I came out of the safe vents and to the lab vents. From there, I had a clear view of the lab as Tony built yet another suit. This one was finally with the red and gold coloring *happy victory dance*. After making it, he flew away to beat the crap out of his kidnappers in Afghanistan. But this time, I was prepared.

I had established a strong yet discrete connection between my system and the suit, so I could keep track of Tony while he flew away. It's not like I was stalking him, it was just a safety measure in case he decided to, I don't know, go to the freaking _moon_.

From the footage I received, he had blown up the camp bases of some terrorists. He had saved a man that was a father from being killed so I was okay with this plan of action. He also blew up some very dangerous missiles, which was kind of stupid since they could have exploded and taken a considerable amount of land with them.

Suddenly, in the screen appeared some alert windows warning about Tony being tracked by the army, CIA, FBI, etc. I typed as fast as I could to get their footages of Tony's awesome kick-assing become blurry and undistinguishable. While I couldn't cover the suit completely, I sure as hell could make sure that they wouldn't recognize what it was.

Just when I was going to hack into the FBI and make them watch videos of cats playing the piano, Rhodey's voice filled the room.

"Where are you, Tony?"

After calming from the near heart attack it gave me, I checked and it was a phone call to the suit. Tony gave some half-assed lie of being in a car, which Rhodey didn't bought at all, and tried to make Rhodey hang up. The keyword being _tried_.

Rhodey suspected that what was in Afghanistan was a missile and not Tony Stark himself in a flying armor. I think he thought Tony wouldn't be so stupid as to go there himself and start shooting people. Luckily, I was not so narrow minded and was aware of the fact that Tony didn't know the meaning of _prudence_. I'm pretty sure he also doesn't know the meaning of _sobriety, _but I'm getting away from the point.

The U.S. government then decided that if they didn't know what it was, they would start shooting it. I'm starting to believe that's actually their motto.

It soon became a full-scale race against the firing jets. Tony was winning at first, but they caught up to him rather fast. He blew up their missiles and dodged them, but they just kept going at him. Because he didn't want to kill the pilots, he took cover underneath one of the jets. Even if he was too close for the radar to notice him, he was gripping to hold himself and wouldn't hold for a long time. Tony realized this and called Rhodey to tell him to stop shooting.

"It's me, it's actually me in a flying suit."

Even if I couldn't see Rhodey's face, I'm pretty sure that it was a mixture of horror and disbelief at Tony's level of stupidity.

Unfortunately, the other pilot moved his jet to a position in which it had a clear view of Tony's grasping form. The asshole told the other pilot to shake Tony off and he complied. I cringed, I knew how it felt to be shaken off something with a lot of force and just two tiny arms to hold with.

Tony went flying through the sky and accidentally broke off the wing of the before mentioned asshole. The jet was going down and the pilot ejected his seat. I think karma was in the air because his parachute didn't work. While the guy had been a jerk, he didn't deserve a death like that. Luckily, Tony thought the same thing and went downwards to save the guy.

Apparently, the other pilot decided that it was a great idea to shoot down Tony. Tony evaded him and opened the falling pilot's parachute. Through the phone, I could hear people starting to cheer. Thanks to the commotion, Tony slipped away from the other jet and headed home.

Rhodey was relieved that they were no longer trying to kill Tony but was all bitchy about what had happened. Eh, let him blame it on some training exercise that went wrong.


	8. Envy is a dish best served cold

**This one's uploaded with the past one since it's the shortest chapter yet. Also the cliff-hanger at the end was irresistible, and because tomorrow I want to write only the next chapter.**

When Tony came back, he realized he was stuck in the suit. It was funny watching him walk around the lab with the suit on and breaking things because of the sheer force of it. At the end, he had to ask Jarvis to dismantle it off his body because he needed to go pee. Mrs. Potts caught him in the middle of being ripped off his suit. At this pace, I think half the world is going to find out about the suit.

After catching him red-handed, the suit was no longer hidden from her. One day while he was updating his suit, Mrs. Potts came in and Tony started giving her instructions on how to hack the main computer. When I say "giving her instructions" I mean telling her to do it, but it was not for nothing that Mrs. Potts was Tony Stark's PA.

I realized that Tony was going to destroy all his work for the company and make sure no one would ever set a finger on one of his weapons. While I was mostly glad of getting rid of the weaponry, it also meant that the company would go bankrupt. Mrs. Potts seemed to think that too, but she thought he was doing it for the wrong reasons.

She shocked me and, a dozen times more, Tony when she said she wanted to quit. Tony tried to guilt trip her back, but she said to him that she couldn't take the constant preoccupation towards his own life. Even if she didn't actually say that, I could understand that. While Tony was doing all this superhero work, it also meant that he would be more vulnerable and get himself killed. I mean, he was lucky to get away with his "bombing the terrorists" act, but what if next time he wasn't so lucky? I couldn't blame Pepper, but that didn't mean her decision was less hurtful to Tony.

At the end, she reluctantly accepted to do what he had asked her. I just hoped she wouldn't get caught. Too bad she did.

I was in the kitchen borrowing some food when I heard Tony in the living room. I quickly hid behind the toaster and was about to get through the outlets to the vents when I saw Obadiah approach Tony.

I was at first confused on what was the bastard doing in here when suddenly Tony sat very still and with a panicked and painful look on his face. I was alarmed by what was going on when, out of nowhere, Obadiah ripped the Arc Reactor from Tony's chest.

He kept on and on in some shitless speech, but all I could do at that moment was stand there sickened by what he had done. The goddamn son of a bitch was showing the Arc Reactor to Tony's face and being all smug about it while he was dying. I knew he was envious of Tony's position in the company, but I never imagined that it would reach this level. He put it in a suitcase and walked away, but not without implying that Pepper was dead or about to be. I didn't know if I was furious or scared to death, but luckily the second one made me hide better when Obadiah approached the kitchen and left.

When he was finally gone, I was stuck with what to do. I mean I could just walk away and leave Tony to die. I could find a new place to live; somewhere where there wouldn't be any explosions, crazy jealous killers, inventions, Tony Starks… Or I could save his life before leaving.

I decided not to be a heartless bitch and save Tony's life. I just hoped that he wouldn't catch me or crush me while trying to save him; I can't decide which is worse.


	9. Caught

**Finally, the chapter I couldn't wait to write. This chapter is actually the reason for which I'm writing this whole fic. **

I ran all the way to my room in the vents. I wasted no time in searching for the Arc Reactor I had repaired, and was stuck with how to take it all the way down to the living room. Luckily, there were some wheels in my room (borrowed from car models) and I used them to cart the Reactor through the vents. I went to the living room, but Tony was no longer there.

I started panicking when I heard something in the elevator. I wheeled the Reactor near it, and saw that it was going down to the lab.

I ran as fast as I could with the Reactor to the vents in the lab. In there, I watched as Tony fell unconscious on the lab's floor. He must have tried to look for a replacement for his Reactor. He was sweating and looking paler by the minute.

Quickly, I tied the cord to connect the Reactor and the vents. I lowered myself to the floor, using the Reactor as a platform. The second my feet touched solid ground again, I began rolling the Reactor all the way to Tony's unconscious form.

As I grew closer, the size difference became a lot more noticeable. Soon, I was near his arm and gave no thought of how much bigger than me the arm was and just started climbing. I tied the Reactor to myself and used the fabric of his torn shirt to have something to hold into.

Finally, I was in his shoulder. Each step that I took was wobbly because of the meaty ground in which I was walking in. I pushed the Reactor all the way to the center of his chest and once I was there, I started organizing the wires in the right sequence.

I lowered myself into the hole in his chest and connected the main wire. This would give me a few more seconds to reconnect all the other wires. I wasted no time in getting all the wires properly in place and crawled out. I then pushed the Reactor's main frame into position and was satisfied to hear it click.

Slowly but surely, his heartbeat steadied and his breath increased. I could _feel _the slowly rising of the chest, the intake of air in his lungs, the pounding of his heart… I had to get out of there before he woke up.

I tried moving but something was making my leg be unable to walk. I turned confused and was horrified to find it stuck in the crevices of the Arc Reactor. Crap, crap, crap…. This was not supposed to happen. I twisted my leg in all possible ways without breaking it, but it wouldn't come out. I was getting desperate, Tony was gaining consciousness _soon_. I was panicking and jerking my leg, when suddenly I was being shaken up and down rather violently. I heard thundering above me, and twisted my head to see what was happening. Oh God, Tony was coughing.

I couldn't hold still and was thrown against his chest repeatedly. Finally, when I was in the brink of going unconscious, it stopped. I was too tired to keep trying to set my leg free and knew it was useless anyway. I was in his line of view and couldn't possibly get away or hide.

With my back on his chest and facing his enormous face, I tried to keep calm. He was rubbing his eyes and I cringed when his arms went above me. One false move and I would be crushed. He was more awake than before and his face showed his confusion. Oh crap, he was going to look down at any moment…

Even if I knew that he would eventually see me, I still froze when his eyes looked down to my trapped form. He widened his eyes almost comically and I would have laughed if I wasn't scared to death in that moment.

"What the.."

His hand started reaching for me and I was freaked out by the sheer size of it.

"Stop!"

I threw my hands in front of my face and wasn't expecting him to actually stop. But he did. He looked shocked that I could talk and I seized this opportunity as best as I could.

"Plea-Please, my leg is stuck."

I was ashamed of my stuttering, but I was more scared than ashamed. I could see him glance towards my stuck leg and frown.

"How exactly did you get stuck in there?"

My mind went blank. I mean, I couldn't tell him that it was because I had saved his life by replacing his Arc Reactor. That would bring a lot more awkward questions that I really didn't want to answer.

He noticed that I wasn't going to answer and instead reached for his Arc Reactor. I scooted as far away as possible from his approaching fingers and watched as he twisted his Reactor clockwise and it moved so I could free my leg.

It was barely out when I felt his fingers wrapped around my tiny form. I yelped out of surprise. Even if they weren't grabbing me excessively hard, it was still an invasion to my personal space and gave off uncomfortable warmth. It was like being trapped in a sweaty but strong cage.

They started lifting me off his chest and my stomach stayed behind. It was really weird being completely still but also moving. No sooner was I in the air when his face filled my line of vision. His brown eyes seemed to be inspecting my face and it took all my strength not to start trembling. It was truly horrifying.

He started turning me around until I got dizzy. It suddenly stopped but I was later put roughly in a jar. A _jar_. This was any Borrower's worst nightmare of being trapped in. He closed the lid on top of me and for a second I was afraid of suffocation but luckily he remembered that I had to breathe and opened holes on it. I was again in front of his face, but this time there was a glass separating us.

"Don't try to escape, I'll be back soon."

He put the jar with me on it on top of the table, with a good distance between the jar and the edge of the table.

"Jarvis, watch that she doesn't move or try to escape."

"Yes sir."

He then walked away, but not before glancing back to see me again as if reassuring himself that I was real and not some drunken hallucination. When he was gone, I curled up and started crying.


	10. First Impressions

**Just one or two more chapters left and then Ironman 2. **

I heard movement and looked up to see Rhodey coming to the lab. He went directly to Tony and started asking him questions of why he looked like shit. I stood completely still, barely breathing even, so he wouldn't see me. Tony immediately started asking about Pepper and Rhodey tried to reassure him that she was safe. Tony obviously wasn't going to stay here twiddling his thumbs, and began putting on his suit.

Rhodey was amazed by what Tony had been doing in his "vacations". After Tony flew off to save Pepper, I started panicking again. I was alone with another Bean, but he didn't know I was here and I couldn't run away. This was a very vulnerable situation for any Borrower since he could accidentally squash me. Luckily, he just looked like he was going to put on another suit Tony had made, but instead took one of his cars lying around. Finally, I was alone.

I must have fallen asleep because I woke up feeling more tired and sore than before. I had been asleep with my head on my knees and my arms surrounding them. For a moment, I was confused as to why I was sleeping like that. Then, it all came back to me like a bad dream when I looked around.

I was still in the jar on top of the table in the lab, but no one was in the room. I tried to stand up but my legs were numb. I rubbed circles on them to return the feeling on them. Finally, I was able to move; but there was nowhere for me to go to. My prison barely gave me space to walk around. I had tried pushing the jar so it could fall to its side, but it was too heavy for me.

I couldn't climb to the top since the walls where made of smooth crystal, and all my borrowing equipment was left in the floor. I knew it was useless to order Jarvis to free me since I couldn't overrule any of Tony's orders (learned that in my first year here). Just thinking of him gave me shivers. What was he going to do with me?

Before I could start picturing all kinds of scenarios, I heard the glass door open. I looked up, and Tony came in. I kept silent, hoping he wouldn't remember I was there, but luck wasn't on my side. He walked directly until he was in front of me and lifted me up. I stumbled a bit from the sudden movement but found myself to be face to face with him.

I backed away until my back hit the glass behind me. He seemed to be expecting something but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"So… hungry?"

I was startled by the random question but nodded anyway. I was put down on the table and the lid came off. I watched as he pulled out something that looked suspiciously like a waffle and tore one of the little squares. He proceeded to lower it through the jar's opening until it was on my reach and I snatched it quickly, in case he changed his mind.

I realized just how hungry I was until I had food in front of me. I didn't spare any second thoughts and started biting the edges.

I was half-way through my meal when I glanced up and found him staring straight at me. I was annoyed by this; can't I eat without being looked at like I was a freaking unicorn?

"Stop staring, it's getting creepy."

I frankly didn't care what happened now. If he was going to kill me, he better do it soon because the unknown was getting on my nerves.

He smiled and I relaxed a little. At least he didn't get angry.

"So you can talk. I was starting to think that you were mute."

This didn't make any sense since I had spoken yesterday. Sure it was barely a couple of words, but it proved that I could talk!

"Now that I'm not in risk of being killed by an insane psychopath, at least for now, back to my question from yesterday. What are you? Fairy, leprechaun, experiment gone bad, born defect?"

I almost choke on a piece of waffle. He thought I was one of those?

"Maybe, but I'm definitely NOT a fairy, especially not with all the sparkling and magic pouring through my ass."

He didn't ask any further on the matter of my species, but I knew he was going to ask again later or investigate by himself. Meanwhile, I wasn't going to tell.

I finished my piece of waffle and wiped my hands on my pants. When I looked up, Tony was sitting in a chair in front of me inspecting his Arc Reactor. I started getting nervous, he was going to realize soon…

"How did you managed to repair AND placing the Reactor on my chest? Not that I'm ungrateful, but I didn't think any shoemaker elves was going to appear standing on my chest."

I turned red by the fact of being caught in there of all places. I was suddenly very interested in my hands and didn't answer the question.

"I mean, this looks like my past Reactor, only with new parts and wires. It even has the same type of structure… Have you been stalking me?"

"What!?"

I looked up surprised by his implication and a bit angry. I was not a stalker!

"I, I don't see any reason to answer that. I saved your life and that's all that matters."

Tony lifted one eyebrow and turned to one of his screens.

"Jarvis, show me last night's video of Thumbelina's appearance."

While I instantly hated the nickname, I paled by what would be shown in the video.

And just as I feared, in the screen was recorded how I came through the vents.

"Care to explain?"

At the end, I ended up telling him that I lived in his mansion's vents for the past years. I did not tell him about Borrowers or my past, but I did talk about how I had studied his notes and blueprints. He was surprised that I understood his work and I felt pride building inside.

All that talking made me really thirsty and Tony must have noticed because he started filling a bottle cap with water. He lowered it carefully until I could grab it from his fingers. I began taking sips from it and felt better.

Tony meanwhile had turned his back to me and was working on something. Huh, I guess I wasn't that interesting to him.

I put down my drink and started pacing inside the jar. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Can I get now out of the jar since I asked all of your questions?"

He turned to me and seemed to be considering it. At the end, he probably thought that I couldn't possibly run away from him and started sticking his fingers in my prison. I was still nervous from last night but let myself be carried by them anyway. This time, he was very gentle and only grabbed me between his thumb and index.

He then put me in the table where he was working and I could now see what he had been doing. There were new schematics for a suit, making it more resistant and durable. I approached the screen and scanned his blueprint. Above me, he was twisting and making changes to it almost every second.

After studying it thoroughly, I noted that he wasn't doing any changes in the back of the suit. It was clearly the most vulnerable part of the suit. He didn't seem to have noticed it and I frowned.

"There's a weak spot in the back."

I looked up at him and when I had talked, he looked down at me.

"No there isn't."

"Ohm, yes there is."

I reached for the screen with my hands and since it was touch sensible, I could handle it. I was afraid that my fingers would be too little to be noticed, but it seemed to register my movements.

I minimized the screen's image of the suit and started making the alterations necessary for the back. After I was done, I enlarged it so Tony could see it.

He twisted and turned it in all possible angles and didn't seem to find anything wrong with what I had done. I was nervous since no one had ever seen anything I designed before, so I couldn't tell if what I had done was right or wrong.

I was starting thinking that someone could actually die from suspension when he looked at me.

"Not bad."

I smiled in relief. Ha, knew I was right all along.

Before I could say anything, I was suddenly lifted from the table. I found myself sitting in his shoulder and was a bit surprised of being that close to Tony. When I looked questioningly at his face, he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not gonna hear you all the way from the table, Thumbelina."

I glared at him. "Don't call me Thumbelina."

"Well you haven't told me your name."

"It's Max, Maximus Runner."

He had a look that said 'Really?' and I shrugged.

"Well then, Max, time to test if it was just beginner's luck."

I smiled. Challenge accepted.


	11. Breakfast

Time flew and six hours passed by without me noticing. We would have continued, but Tony sent me to sleep when I yawn for the seventh time.

After I showed him my alterations to the suit, he insisted that I continued with the rest of it. I told him what I thought would make the suit better. He sometimes agreed, but sometimes we would fight until someone was proven correct. We were both very proud and would disagree very heatedly. In one of our quarrels, he actually put me on a shelf just so he could see me clearly while he was telling me how wrong I was. I was right in that time.

It was about three in the morning when I went to sleep. Tony was trying to talk me into staying in his lab or in one of the mansions rooms for the night. I convinced him that I would be back and he reluctantly let me go. He gave me a lift to the vents and I started walking all the way to my home, feeling like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. For years I had to hide and worry constantly of being "seen" or crushed. It was a relief to be able to feel safe, at least safer.

I was sleeping peacefully when I suddenly heard a noise. It was barely noticeable at first, but started getting louder every second. Finally, it stopped and I was confused by what just happened. Suddenly, I heard a different kind of sound coming from the living room. When I came to the living room, I saw that the opening was shifting. My living room was in front of a vent lid so I could go to the kitchen faster. The lid was taken off and a gigantic head came through. I jumped in surprise and was about to run away when I looked closely. The face looked suspiciously like Tony's.

"Hey! You're awake."

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "I was woken up by that infernal sound. And what the hell are you doing in my living room?!"

"This is your living room? Kind of nice if you're in that sort of thing. Wait, is that my cufflink?"

"I'll come down in a minute."

His head thankfully came down, but the lid wasn't placed back in place. I went to my room and started to change into a more appropriate change of clothes that weren't my pajamas. I decided to never sleep naked ever again.

When I was finished, I went through the open vent near my living room and started climbing down with my cord. The opening was usually on top of the fridge, but said fridge was missing. It was pushed to the side and instead there was an indoor ladder. I reached the ladder and my feet touched the base of the upper step. When I looked around the kitchen, I noticed that on top of the breakfast table was a plastic container filled with small cinnamons and a glass of orange juice.

I used my cord to get to the table. Once I was there, I approached the food carefully and was tempted by it. The cinnamons were still hot and smelled so good…

"It's for you, you know."

I turned around surprised and Tony was coming in the kitchen drinking coffee in one of those Starbucks holders. He approached the breakfast table and sat down in one of the chairs surrounding it. I then came near the food and climbed inside the transparent container. Once I was in there, the smell hit me in full force and I was filled with the deliciousness that made the combination of cinnamon, frosting and bread. I approached the nearest one and grabbed it. It was the size of my head and began nibbling it. Damn, I hadn't had this kind of food in a while.

"Thanks."

"Hey, don't go soft with me. Next time, ask for what you need so you don't have to steal."

I frowned. "I don't steal, I borrow."

"Yeah, well it's stealing for me."

I rolled my eyes and continued eating. I was about to grab a second one when I heard a door closing. I froze when the sound of heels getting closer reached my ears. Before anyone came in, I rushed to the pile of food and hid myself in there.

"Tony, Rhodey was asking for the blueprints of your suit and all the details about it and since only you have access to them…"

"Tell him I'll give them to him some other day. Meanwhile, could you go get me the ohm schematics for the Arc Reactor in the central database?"

"Sure. Remember that you have that conference with the board at three and the meeting with the…"

"I'll be there, if not tell them I was busy saving cats from trees or something like that."

"All right, but don't do anything stupid."

"Me? Never."

Finally, Pepper walked away. I crawled out of the pile of bread and was faced with two enormous brown eyes watching from the side. He was looking at me questioningly and I sighed.

"I'm not ready to be seen by anyone else, especially a female Bean. They tend to scream and hit."

"Beans?"

"Yes, as in human beans."

"It's human beings."

"That's what I said. Beans."

"No, it's not 'beans', it's 'be-ings'."

"Beans."

"Beings."

We spend another half hour like that until I got enough and climbed out of the container. I walked to the glass of orange juice and was faced with the problem of not being able to drink from the glass. I stared at Tony as if stating my dilemma and he stared back at me until it finally sunk.

"Oh! Oops, here."

He passed a straw and put it upside down and handed me the other edge of it. The smaller section was inside the glass and the larger one was on my reach. The hole of the straw was the size of my fist and I put it in my mouth. I bit it down and started sucking through it. Finally, juice started coming out. But it came in torrents and it hit me fully in the face. I was thrown back by the sheer force of it and heard laughing above me.

When I had finally wiped the juice off my face, I glared up at Tony. "It's not funny."

"Actually it is, therefore I laughed."

I grumbled and started cupping my hands on the puddle surrounding me and began drinking. When I finished the puddle, white surrounded me. After I touched it, I found out that it was actually a napkin. I used it as a towel and even if I was dry, my clothes were all sticky.

"So you have been living on top of my kitchen all this time?"

"Yup." I said popping the p.

"And you watched everything that happened inside my mansion through the vents? Cause it would be weird if you watched me while I got changed, bathed or…"

"Yeah, I'm not a pervert. I obviously wasn't watching in those, erm, times; especially what you did in the privacy of your bedroom. Besides, the size difference would make it awkward."

Before he could start thinking of any other uncomfortable situations, I started walking across the table until I was near the ladder. I faced him and put my hands on my hips.

"Was there any reason to almost give me a heart attack before? Besides, how did you found me?"

Tony shrugged and went to stand beside the ladder. "I was curious. And it wasn't that hard; I just reconfigured Jarvis to scan all heat patterns in the mansion and in here was the closest one to a tiny human's."

He climbed up the ladder again and stuck his head through the vents, again.

"Hey!" Seriously, didn't he have any sense of privacy?

"It's on my property. You sleep in here?"

"No, my room is in the next vent around the corner."

"Show me."

He got down and walked over to me. His palm greeted me and I took the lift. I was now more comfortable with his hands and didn't hesitate to walk to it.

Back in my living room, I looked blankly at him.

"And how exactly will you be able to fit in here to see my room?"

"I won't need to be there, at least not with this."

Instead of his head, there was a tiny camera gripped by his fingers. I went over, grabbed it from his hands and headed to my room.

I took pictures of everything (except what was personal and private) and when I was back, he wasn't there. I shrugged and started climbing down the opening. Half way down I was snatched. Hard.

"What is this?!"

Oh shit.


	12. Liliputians freak out everyone

**Wanted to make a change in POV's so here it is! **

_Tony P.O.V._

Seeing a tiny girl on my chest was actually not the weirdest thing that happened that night. After dressing up as a superhero, being almost killed by Obadiah, and confessing to the world I was Ironman; I think I was ready to face the Liliputian.

When I came back home, I headed straight for my workspace. In there, sitting on the jar as I left it last time, was the tiny chick. I half expected it to be only a dying man's hallucination, but she was real.

I checked last night in case it was a scam or just a really elaborate android, but now that I saw her again, she seemed real. She was four inches tall, with long curly brown hair. Her tiny face was almost flawless, like of a porcelain doll. Her clothes seemed to be doll like too. I guess when you're that size; they're the best fit around.

I studied her again and expected her to do something; like scream or fly. But all she did was stand there looking freaked out. I realized that I was scaring her, so I took a different approach.

"So… hungry?"

She nodded and I handed her a piece of waffle. She snatched it from my fingers and started biting it as if she hadn't eaten in a while. I remembered that she had been in the jar since last night. Oops.

"Stop staring, it's getting creepy." So she could talk.

I still didn´t know what exactly she was, and when I asked her, she was very vague about it but immediately rejected the fairy theory. I mean, where there more like her, was she normal before or what?

I looked back to how I discovered her and she had been near my Arc Reactor. Now that I really thought it over, where had it come from?

When I confronted her about it and she didn't answer. So I checked the tapes and saw that she had come from the vents with a new Reactor.

She was very cooperative after seeing the video.

I was stunned that she had seen my work and _understood _it. I mean, she looked like a prepubescent girl but miniaturized. This girl was really intelligent, if not a genius. Had she been normal sized, she could have made a fantastic inventor. I also found out that she had been living in my vents all this years without me realizing it. I made a mental note to update the security system to check if there were any tiny people lying around without me knowing it.

I was in the middle of doing just that when I heard her wanting to get out of the jar. I took her out and she felt weird in my hand. She wasn't really heavy, more like a doll. Her tiny form was soft and sort of squirmy between my fingers so I set her quickly on the table. She looked so tiny on top of it. Everything seemed huge around her, like something taken out from a Tim Burton's movie. I was very careful not to work near her, so to not crush her or hurt her badly.

I checked my suit's design in the screens at the other side of the table and went over it. In my confrontation with Obadiah, my suit could have almost killed me if not by sheer dumb luck. I decided that iff something like that happened again, I was going to be prepared.

"There's a weak spot in the back."

Thumbelina (I didn't know her name yet) was now standing in a corner of the screen scanning the screens above her.

"No there isn't."

"Ohm, yes there is."

She proceeded to make alterations on the Ironman's suit on screen like a boss. I was about to tell her that no one messes with my work when I saw that she was right.

I decided to test her and put her in my shoulder for convenience and safety issues.

As the night went by, she proved to be able to keep up with me. She was also a worthy opponent when we fought over schematics and the like. At the end, it was getting late (for her) and I tried convincing her into staying in a room rather than in the vents, but she refused. I lifted her up to the vents, and I suddenly had an idea.

"Jarvis, show me the heat patterns inside the mansion."

After checking them and seeing that the closest match to a tiny body's heat was in a vent on top of the fridge, I went to take a short nap. I woke up a few hours later and it was morning.

I wanted to check where Max lived, she finally told me her name, but ordered first the smallest thing in the menu (which turned out to be tiny cinnamons), juice and a cup of coffee.

I had to move the fridge first, actually Dummy moved it but whatever, and placed an inside ladder instead. With a screw driver, I took the lid off the opening and stuck my head in. I saw what looked like a lot of miscellaneous crap lying around when a bleary looking Max walked in. She was wearing pajama doll clothes and didn't look to happy to be awake.

"Hey! You're awake."

She crossed her arms and glared. "I was woken up by that infernal sound. And what the hell are you doing in my living room?!"

"This is your living room?" Now that I looked closely, it did look like a living room. There were some corks that made up a sofa, a coin on top a screw and a makeshift kitchen. All put together, it looked like a dollhouse made of scraps.

"Kind of nice if you're in that sort of thing. Wait, is that my cufflink?"

"I'll come down in a minute."

I came down from the ladder and heard the doorbell. I went to get the food from the delivery guy and went to the kitchen. I opened the container with the cinnamons and poured the juice in a glass. When I looked back at the table, Max was on the table eyeing the food with hunger in her eyes.

"It's for you, you know."

She turned and went near the pastries. She climbed inside with the cinnamons and began eating them with fervor. She must have a hard time getting food without being caught or squashed. Something inside of me made me want to protect her, want her not to risk her life just to survive.

"Thanks."

"Hey, don't go soft with me. Next time, ask for what you need so you don't have to steal."

She frowned. "I don't steal, I borrow."

"Yeah, well it's stealing for me." Even if it didn't make much of a difference what she took, it did felt like stealing.

She finished the first one when I heard Pepper coming in.

"Tony, Rhodey was asking for the blueprints of your suit and all the details about it and since only you have access to them…"

"Tell him I'll give them to him some other day. Meanwhile, could you go get me the ohm schematics for the Arc Reactor in the central database?"

"Sure. Remember that you have that conference with the board at three and the meeting with the…"

"I'll be there, if not tell them I was busy saving cats from trees or something like that."

"All right, but don't do anything stupid."

"Me? Never."

She walked away and when I turned to look at Max, she was gone. I panicked for a moment, until I saw a pile inside the container stir. I moved so I could look closely to check that it was ax, and sure enough, it was her. I silently questioned her and she sighed.

"I'm not ready to be seen by anyone else, especially a female Bean. They tend to scream and hit."

"Beans?"

"Yes, as in human beans."

"It's human beings."

"That's what I said. Beans."

"No, it's not 'beans', it's 'be-ings'."

"Beans."

"Beings."

We spend another half hour like that until she climbed out of the container. She approached the glass of water and turned to stare at me. I was confused for a moment until I realized she couldn't possible drink from the glass.

"Oh! Oops, here."

I placed an upside down straw on the glass and handed her the longest edge of it. It looked less like a straw and more like a tube on her hands. She bit the edge and started sucking, but what little juice was pulled from the glass was enough to send her back from the sheer force of it. I was worried that she had drowned on it, but she started coughing and seemed all right. It suddenly downed on me the hilariousness of the situation and I started laughing.

"It's not funny."

"Actually it is, therefore I laughed."

I was about to offer her to fill a bottle cap instead, when she started drinking from the puddle surrounding her. Once she finished, I dropped a napkin on top of her so she could use it as a towel.

"So you have been living on top of my kitchen all this time?"

"Yup." She said popping the p.

"And you watched everything that happened inside my mansion through the vents? Cause it would be weird if you watched me while I got changed, bathed or…"

"Yeah, I'm not a pervert. I obviously wasn't watching in those, erm, times; especially what you did in the privacy of your bedroom. Besides, the size difference would make it awkward."

A thousand different scenarios came to me when she said that but before I could voice one of them; she had walked through the breakfast table and was now facing the ladder that was underneath her home. She then turned and faced me, hands in hips.

"Was there any reason to almost give me a heart attack before? Besides, how did you found me?"

I explained to her how and went over again to check on her living room.

"Hey!" Seriously, didn't he have any sense of privacy?

"It's on my property. You sleep in here?"

"No, my room is in the next vent around the corner."

"Show me."

I was curious to how the rest of her house would be. I lifted her up the vent again and handed her a tiny model of a Stark camera that was released years ago.

She walked around the corner of the vent until she was out of my view. I heard someone coming to the kitchen and I got down seeing who it was. Oh crap, it was Pepper again. That woman had an uncanny sense of bad timing.

"Tony, I came back because I forgot to tell you… What are you doing?"

"I uh was just checking the ehmmm ventilating system! Yeah, it's working juuust fine."

I got down the ladder and turned to face her.

"So how about if you send me what you needed to tell me in a text and we'll talk about it later?"

"Tony, Rhodey is insisting about the Ironman's suit and the board is getting impatient with the company's… What is that?!"

I turned to see Max climbing down of the vent and before I could do anything, Pepper had crossed over and snatched her rather aggressively. I could see Max trembling in the tight grip Pepper had her in and there was fear in her eyes.

"Pepper, please put her down I'll…"

She wasn't listening and started staring at her hand that was currently grabbing Max. Pepper was speechless and Max for her part was so still that she looked almost like a doll had it not been for her heavy breathing.

"Whaa… Hoow…"

"Pepper, listen to me. Put her on the table and I'll explain."

She seemed to snap back to reality and went over to the table. She started lowering Max to the surface of the table and in the last few inches, she almost dropped her. Max scrambled to her feet and backed away slowly from Pepper. Pepper made to grab her again but Max stopped moving.

"All right, let me start from the beginning."

I told her everything that had happened since last night and Pepper didn't say anything while I talked. She seemed surprised when I told her that Max had been living in the vents for some years now but was relieved when she heard that she had been the one to save me from dying when my Arc Reactor was ripped off of me. Max didn't move at all and remained quiet in all that time. When I finished, she seemed to be digesting.

"Ok… So you're Max?"

She looked down to ask Max and Max nodded in response.

"Well, I guess this kind of things tend to happen when you're working with Tony Stark." She sighed and the tension seemed to lessen a bit.

After that Pepper said she needed to go get some stuff done, but I think it was so she could assimilate it properly. I turned and saw that Max was looking relieved.

"See, it wasn't so bad." She glared at me in response.

**Hope I did Tony justice in this last chapter, and if not, send reviews! This is the last chapter for the first one in the series and the sequel will be only about Ironman 2. It's going to be released in a few days while I watch the movie again so the wait is not for long! **


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